


Check and Balance

by Providentia67



Category: Dororo (2019), Dororo (Anime 2019), Dororo (Anime)
Genre: Brotherhood, Comfort, Families of Choice, Family, Friendship, Gen, Trying to do the right thing, post episode 20
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-28
Updated: 2019-05-28
Packaged: 2020-03-20 14:41:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18994657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Providentia67/pseuds/Providentia67
Summary: Tahomaru had hoped their next meeting would be one of triumph. To celebrate the three of them overcoming the powers that sought to tear them down in body and soul. But that is not this day.  And as the weight of hope and despair and longing come crashing down on Hyakkimaru, Tahomaru just hopes he can help in some small way to bring his brother peace.Humanity is not something granted by the body, but maintained in the heart and mind.





	Check and Balance

When he returns from patrol to find three pebbles set in a perfect line outside his window, Tahomaru knows they’ve come.  He’s not surprised really, the onset of plagues and disasters circulating around the border towns of his father’s lands had to mean that Hyakkimaru and Dororo were making progress.  Indeed, as he sets his normal dress aside in exchange for darker riding clothes that night, he is relieved that he’ll be able to see them again. He needs to, he thinks. Needs to see the restoration on his brother’s body to remind himself that all the suffering is worth it.  Worth it to right the unspeakable wrong their father committed.

He dodges Hyogo and Mutsu’s patrol and sets out for the decided meeting place as soon as darkness overtakes the Kagemitsu compound.  A smile stretches the skin of his scarred eye as he breaks through the treeline and sees the tiny fire Dororo has no doubt made.

“Brother!” he vaults from his horse before the gelding has even had time to come to a full stop and takes a few aborted steps forward.  Not quite daring to breach the distance entirely and embrace his elder sibling, but unable to disguise his welcome of their return.

He doesn’t get much of a response from Hyakkimaru, but that is not to be unexpected so he lets it go for the moment and rotates so that his brother’s small companion appears in his field of vision.  “Dororo,” he greets with markedly less enthusiasm, though retaining a fond intonation in his speech.

He _is_ surprised by how sullen the child appears.  Doesn’t even look up from where she is poking at the fire with a small stick and ignoring the three speared fish sitting uncooked and raw beside her.  That, is concerning.

Floundered for a moment, Tahomaru shifts so he can watch both companions at the same time and crosses his arms.  “What happened?”

Neither speaks, Dororo’s lips slipping into a sullen pout while Hyakkimaru just turns the angle of his sitting position ever so slightly so his face is hidden beneath a curtain of loose bangs.  Tahomaru’s brow arches. Much must have happened in the time since he’d left the pair to go keep watch and mitigate damage in their homeland. Last they’d spoken, Hyakkimaru had been all but impossible to read except by gauging the meaning of his expressionless silences.  But to actually move to hide his face… his brother was not well.

He remembers once, during his early childhood, a brief couple of days when Hyogo and Mutsu had fallen into some sort of argument.  Neither had suffered to speak or even look at the other for so long, young Tahomaru had feared they would never reconcile. It hadn’t been until they’d ranted and screamed at each other in an effort to get Tahomaru to take their side that the pair had been able to put a name and voice to their grudge and move on.  So, he would apply the same theory here.

Identifying Dororo as the easier target, not to mention the more articulate, Tahomaru turns and addresses her first.  “Tell me.”

Dororo doesn’t look at him, but does peek over the stubborn curve of her shoulder at Hyakkimaru.  She’s trembling, he realizes with mild surprise. Not out of reaction to the cold night, no. That is the same tremble that stayed his hand the night he turned his blade on Hyakkimaru.

She is trembling in guilt and fear.

“Bro… bro wanted to come.”

It is a deflection, but perhaps it will work.  Tahomaru turns to Hyakkimaru, who has indeed decided to grace them with his attention.  Blank eyes turn from Dororo to Tahomaru.

“Elder brother?”

“Daigo.”  There is no telling what Hyakkimaru means, so Tahomaru doesn’t try to interpret.  Just crosses his arms and waits for him to go on. As terrible a man as he has discovered his father is, he has learned something of leadership, and dealing with people who are stubborn to reveal information.  He doesn’t have to wait long. Hyakkimaru’s brows furrow and his scowl is punctuated by the tightening of his wooden fist. “Daigo has my body.”

The movement draws Tahomaru’s attention to the nearly fractured prosthetic on his brother’s left arm.  No doubt damaged in battle. So, he surmises. It’s frustration that has brought them here.

He takes a deep breath.  “Hyakkimaru,” he says. “I thought you said the demons from the Hall of Hell were the ones in possession of your body.  Not our father.”

The crackling of wood that accompanied Dororo’s pokes ceases, but Tahomaru isn’t in a position to see why the child has stopped.  Instead he keeps his focus on Hyakkimaru.

“I want it,” the older man says.  Insists. “It’s mine.”

“Listen to me.”  Tahomaru steps up to his brother and kneels beside him.  Up close he can see that Hyakkimaru now had both legs. Something to celebrate, but not at the moment.  “We’ll get it back. I swear it, but it will take time.”

“No.”  There is a small hiccup from the side, and Tahomaru glances over just briefly and sees that Dororo has tucked her head into her arms.  He sighs, but Hyakkimaru is still speaking. “I want it now.”

It’s not something he’s considered.  If killing Daigo Kagemitsu will allow them to bypass the slow, arduous task of hunting down each of the demons who took part in the deal.  Regardless, he doesn’t think it matters much at the moment compared to the foreboding he is feeling now.

“You’ve gotten back your leg, isn’t that enough for now?”  The slow, inward spiral of decline is hard enough for him to deal with as it stands, Tahomaru doesn’t know what he would be able to do if the remaining horrors the demons kept pushed back flooded the people all at once.

“No!”  Hyakkimaru sounds so insistent Tahomaru flinches back a step.  The older man grimaces and reaches his good arm over to grip the fractured pieces of his left prosthetic.  “It’s mine!”

Irritation spikes in Tahomaru.  When he’d come to the realization that he had an older brother, he’d never imagined him to be so childish.  “Why!?” He throws his arms out wide. “I’m doing everything I can to keep our people safe while you hunt demons.  Why is it so important you get everything now!”

He can’t imagine the suffering his brother has endured.  Is enduring. But the promise they made was that reclaiming Hyakkimaru’s body would not come at the cost of the people.  And Tahomaru will hold him to that.

It catches Tahomaru unprepared when Hyakkimaru leaps to his feet.  The taller man is quicker and more agile than a wild cat, and it surprises Tahomaru so much he stumbles.  As soft-featured as Hyakkimaru is, standing over him with his shoulders hunched and blank eyes burning, Tahomaru can’t help but feel intimidated.  

“Dororo,” Hyakkimaru says, voice quiet and still.

They stand at a stalemate for an uncomfortable minute, Hyakkimaru steady in his self-assured determination and Tahomaru trying desperately to understand and calm him with objection alone.  Whatever animal-instinct is driving Hyakkimaru right now, Tahomaru will stand between it and their people.

“... It’s my fault,” Dororo says at last, voice quiet.  “I almost got hurt and I think… I think it scared him.”

The shame in the child’s voice rings clear and when Tahomaru looks over, this time he notices the bandages wrapped with care around her arm.  His remaining eye does a quick evaluation and Tahomaru lets out a quiet sigh when he decides whatever injuries she has are superficial, but he can imagine the scare Hyakkimaru must have felt.

His elder brother sometimes seems invincible.  Like some inevitable storm come to tear down everything his father has built with sullied hands.  The same is in no way true of Dororo.

“I see.”

Hyakkimaru steps closer, so close Tahomaru’s curling hair could brush the tips of Hyakkimaru bangs.  “I need it,” he says. “Keep Dororo safe.”

“Bro… I’m okay,” she tries.  Hyakkimaru doesn’t even seem to register her words.

“I need Dororo.”

Tahomaru’s not sure what’s worse.  Hyakkimaru being driven by bloodlust, as he’d feared, or by love.  Understanding now the connection to the damaged prosthetic, Tahomaru reaches up and takes Hyakkimaru by the crook of his good arm.  The wood creaks under his grip but holds steady; truly remarkable work. “I can’t let you.”

Hyakkimaru’s free hand grips his sleeve.  “Tahomaru. Help me get it back.”

Despite himself, Tahomaru twitches at the sound of his name coming from his brother’s lips.  The acknowledgement feels like a gift, but not one he wants right now. He shakes his head. “Not like this.  Not when you’re not thinking straight.”

The hand on his sleeve tugs, insistent.  “Now.”

“No.”

“ _Now._ ”

He shakes his head.  “No.”

Seemingly fed up, Hyakkimaru shifts and suddenly the forearm in Tahomaru’s grip comes loose, half unsheathing the sword-arm beneath.  “Give it to me.” It’s as much of a warning as Tahomaru expects he’ll get, but he doesn’t let go. Just shifts into a more balanced stance and grips the hilt of his own weapon.  It’s not his dominant hand, but it’ll do.

“I won’t.”

His heart skips and Tahomaru waits for his brother to attack, but instead a rock is thrown that flies between them and strikes the trunk of a nearby tree with a _clack!_

Hyakkimaru backs off first, turning and letting his wooden forearm fall away to reveal the blade beneath.  “Dororo,” he says. “Why?”

“Stupid, bro!”

“Dororo?”

The child is on her feet, eyes red and small hands balled into fists on either side of her.  “Just stop it!” she says around her sniffling. Tahomaru wonders if Hyakkimaru can perceive the tears rolling down her cheeks with his strange version of sight.

“Why?”  Apparently not, if he needs to ask that.

“Because I said so!”

“Why?”

Tahomaru sighs.  He wonders how the duo manages any progress at all when their conversations always seem to devolve into circular, childish squabbling.  He looks between them. It is clear that Hyakkimaru cares deeply for Dororo and he is glad that his brother has found something to which anchor his soul.  But as they walk further along the path they’ve chosen, it would seem it is no longer safe for the likes of her.

“I’ll keep him safe,” he says at last, putting a stop to the pair’s repetitive argument.  Both look to him. “Dororo can stay with me. I’ll keep him safe.”

Hyakkimaru frowns.  “No.”

“Yeah, no way!”  

Well, at least they were agreeing on something.  He ignores Dororo’s protest for the moment to focus on Hyakkimaru.  “If you’re worried about his safety then he cannot continue following you.  Hunting demons is dangerous.”

Hyakkimaru’s head tilts in confusion.  “I need Dororo.”

Yes brother, but you need her alive more.  “You’ve all but admitted you can’t keep him safe.  How did that happen to his arm!” It is a stinging blow, but Tahomaru tells himself it’s necessary.  “He’ll be safe with me, I swear to you.”

Dororo growls and stamps her feet.  “I’m not staying! I’m going with bro, I’m the only one who can!”  Tahomaru wonders if she’s taken it upon herself to save his brother’s soul.  Fearful that he is right, he is also very grateful for it. He imagines she’s seen horrors following in Hyakkimaru’s footsteps.  Horrors no one else would be able to stand or accept.

Hyakkimaru shakes his head and steps towards his small companion.  “Dororo stays with me.”

But Hyakkimaru needs a wake up call.  “Not unless you can control yourself.”  Tahomaru picks up the discarded prosthetic that Hyakkimaru has all but forgotten and holds it out to him.  “Take this arm and go.”

Hyakkimaru grasps the arm, but his expression remains confused.  “Daigo…”

“Will wait.  This is not the way to take your body back, and you know it.”

At some point Dororo has wandered closer and now she stands half-hidden in Hyakkimaru’s shadow, gripping the fabric of his clothes as if afraid to let go.  Tahomaru glances her way, sorry that he has to suggest she leave Hyakkimaru’s side, but her expression is not one of fear or anger. To Tahomaru’s surprise it almost looks like she understands.  She knows what he is trying to do.

One of Hyakkimaru’s wooden hands comes down on the girl’s head and stays there, as if for reassurance.  “But Dororo-”

“I won’t let you become the demon our father wants to make you,” he insists, cutting the older man off.  Tahomaru grabs his brother’s shoulders and shakes them. “You are human, Hyakkimaru. Whether you have arms or eyes, or anything.”

Beneath them both, Dororo grunts her agreement and nods her head.

“But if you let yourself become a monster just to get pieces of flesh back, then you aren’t someone who can protect Dororo.”

Hyakkimaru pulls away.  “I can.”

“Then prove it.”  There is fear that he will break the fragile bond he has managed to build with his brother by doing this.  But Tahomaru would rather see Hyakkimaru walk away from him forever with his soul intact, than have to witness him spiral into darkness firsthand.  “Hunt down the demons who stole from you one by one, like we planned. And I will deal with our father.”

Hyakkimaru watches him for what feels like a long time.  Measuring him with that strange sight of his that pierces down to the soul.  And not for the first time, Tahomaru wonders what he sees. If with it, Hyakkimaru can read intent.

Because if Hyakkimaru can’t hold himself back from this, Tahomaru has every intention of separating him from Dororo.  Tahomaru will fight him right here and right now, because this girl is important. She is possibly the only thread of hope Hyakkimaru has of becoming whole and Tahomaru won’t let her spirit die by watching Hyakkimaru drown in anger.

Dororo tugs on Hyakkimaru’s sleeve.  “Bro,” and Hyakkimaru looks down in an instant.  “Let’s go.”

Tahomaru can see the beast recede in Hyakkimaru’s soul.  He bows his head for a moment and when it lifts, there is some measure of peace and remorse.  “...Tahomaru,” he starts, but then moves his mouth silently, as if he doesn’t know what to say.

“It’s okay.”  Tahomaru takes a step back.  “I have faith in you, elder brother.  You are strong enough to do this, and I will be here to help you in whatever way I can.”

Hyakkimaru’s smile is much more full and encompassing than it had been the last time Tahomaru had seen it.  And he is glad, despite the circumstances, that he is able to see it. Without another word, Hyakkimaru turns and starts towards the line of trees at a steady pace.  He is unhurried, calm, and headed in the opposite direction of their father’s lands.

Dororo is the one who lingers.  She looks up at him for a moment before breaking into a grin and diving against his legs to wrap him in a hug.  “Thank you,” she says.

Tahomaru stands stiff with shock for a moment before slowly setting his hand on the girl’s head.  “Take care of him for me,” he says in lieu of acknowledging the fact that she’s broken her self-imposed rule of keeping Tahomaru at arms length.  

Dororo nods against his pant leg.  “I will.”

From a distance,Tahomaru hears Hyakkimaru’s soft call.  “Dororo?”

In an instant, Dororo dances away from him.  “Sorry, have to go. But we’ll be back, okay!”  She waves and runs off without waiting for his response, but Tahomaru gives it anyway.

“You’d better.”


End file.
